“I hope you don’t expect me to have moves like that,” Zara said.
“As long as you let me dip you, I’m good.”
After a few songs, Phoebe plopped back down on the blanket, nudging me with her foot. “Go on.”
I pecked Zara’s forehead. “You want to dance?”
Twisting in my arms, her eyes lit up. “I thought you’d never ask.”
I stood and pulled her up with me. The band had shifted into something slower, which was a good thing since I wasn’t much of a dancer. All I had to do was pull Zara into my arms and sway.The music wrapped around us, and the lights overhead glowed softly through the leaves.
“I was going to ask you to my prom.”
She sucked in a breath. “You were?”
“It had been my plan all along. Then your mom got sick, and I knew there was no way you’d want to leave her.”
A line carved between her brows. “You didn’t go to your prom, did you?”
“No. Dancing with you was the only reason I’d wanted to in the first place.”
Her hand squeezed mine. “At least we have tonight.”
“It’s not too bad of a consolation prize, is it?”
“Not too bad at all.”
Her cheek brushed my shirt as she leaned closer, and I rested mine against her hair. I couldn’t imagine taking her to prom would have been any better than this; I’d just had to wait a little while longer for it to happen.
For years, I’d considered the way things might have been different. If her mom hadn’t gotten sick. If life hadn’t pulled us in opposite directions. If I’d said something sooner. If I’d been brave enough or she’d been less stubborn.
Because even when we weren’t close, even when years passed with only a few words between us, Zara had always been there, woven through every memory and place I spent my days. She was never too far from my mind.
It used to feel like we’d missed our chance. Like the window had closed before either of us had known it was open. Standing here now, though, her in my arms, the music and night swirling around us, I could see I’d been mistaken.
It hadn’t been the wrong person or wrong place.
It had been the wrong time.
Now, everything was clicking into place. Like every road I’d taken, every mile and mistake and second-guess, had led meright back to this patch of grass, twinkle lights overhead, her arms looped around my neck.
Right person.
Right time.
Finally.
I pressed a kiss into her hair, and she smiled against my chest like she knew exactly what I was thinking and agreed with all her heart. God, I hoped she did.
When the tempo picked up, and the spell was broken, we just stood there in each other’s embrace.
She smiled up at me. “That was the best first dance ever.”
“Not even a contest.”
Chapter Thirty-six
Zara